Mark Ingram makes pick on 2024 Iron Bowl game

Alabama is set to enter the Iron Bowl against bitter rival Auburn as a multi-score favorite — the Crimson Tide were 11.5-point favorites as of Tuesday — despite history indicating a one-score game might be in the cards. But Crimson Tide legend Mark Ingram thinks Vegas has the right beat on the game.

Picking the Iron Bowl on “The Triple Option” podcast with his FOX Sports colleagues, Ingram acknowledged this game has been close, including in recent history. But he thinks Alabama playing at home and needing to make a strong final argument in its case to make the College Football Playoff as a three-loss team will fuel a large margin of victory.

“I see Alabama getting back on track in this Iron Bowl, man,” Ingram said. “Cause there’s a lot of chirp going on, I don’t know if you’ve been hearing it, man, but there’s been a lot of chirp on the Auburn side. They’re saying this, they’re saying Ryan Williams ain’t one of them guys, they’re saying Jalen Milroe ain’t one of them guys. Saying ‘Bama ain’t one of them guys. It’s going on in the media, they poppin’ they stuff. But hey I know ‘Bama, they just getting ready. They behind the scenes. They gotta bounce back, man. Because the last week was detrimental loss, man. So if you want any hope, at all, of possibly even being one of the three loss teams to get in, you’ve gotta dominate this weekend in the Iron Bowl.”

Ingram did dig in to a few areas that his alma mater needs to clean up, though, after a 24-3 loss at the hands of Oklahoma.

For one, the Crimson Tide defense will need to be ready to shutdown a strong Auburn run game after getting gashed the week prior. And Milroe himself needs to find his best form against, Ingram said.

“And listen, the Alabama defense, I just appreciate them because they’ve gotten better and better throughout the season,” Ingram said. “They’ve been having trouble stopping the run. Gave up 257 rush yards to Oklahoma last week and they have a good back coming in this week for Auburn, man. So they’ll need to be on point, they’ll need to sure up that run defense. But it all comes down to Jalen “Milly” Milroe. When he plays the way he’s capable of playing, Alabama is the most dominant team in college football. When he takes care of the football, makes the right reads, we are a tough team to beat. He’s had eight interceptions in his last seven games, had three interceptions last week.”

And despite it being a game where the records can get thrown out, Ingram said, where three of the last five matchups have been decided by a field goal or less, he’s confident his Crimson Tide get the job done.

“And I’ve got my Tide rolling,” Ingram said.